Receiver Jordan Westerkamp has invented a football skill: hand to "no eye" coordination.

Photo Courtesy Scott Bruhn/NU Media Relations

Courtesy: NU Media Relations

09/01/2014

Randy York's N-Sider

Offcial Blog of the Huskers

Life in football can be stranger than fiction. For instance, while driving to Memorial Stadium last Saturday, I had my radio tuned into something I can never get enough of – the Huskers Sports Network. The conversation focused on Jordan Westerkamp and how he once was interviewed yet never once was asked about The Catch … the Hail Mary Catch that took the air out of Northwestern and sent the Wildcats back to Chicago before they could even think about catching their breath.

The humor in the Westerkamp discussion had a point: Who would ever ask Jordan what his most memorable catch was when most of the country already knows? Well, guess what? That little discussion had an ironic twist to it Saturday. Mike Babcock and I were talking in the press box when we watched Westerkamp pull another football rabbit out of a hat with a behind-the-back catch that simply defies imagination.

We looked at each other and instantly, almost in unison, called it an unbelievable catch. Not just any catch, a spectacular one. While officials were seeking to confirm what their eyes were telling them, I mentioned the radio discussion to Mike. We agreed the odds would be prohibitive to make another catch that could fit into the same elite category.

Somehow, Nebraska receiver Jordan Westerkamp can bring together all of his instincts to catch a football.

Saturday’s Catch More Remarkable than Hail Mary

“I think that’s a more remarkable catch than the Hail Mary, don’t you?” I asked Babcock. “I think it is,” Mike said. “I’ve never seen a catch like that ever, have you?” I asked Babcock. “No, I never have either,” he said. We both shook our heads, knowing that Westerkamp’s eyes locked in on the Hail Mary last year while his soft hands finished the work in a perfectly timed jump in Memorial Stadium’s South end zone.

This time, we couldn’t believe what we’d just seen … a behind-the-back butt catch that required even softer hands and incredible equilibrium. In his press conference, Bo Pelini joined the crowd, saying he’s never seen anything like Westerkamp’s catch Saturday. Defensive coordinator John Papuchis called it “the greatest catch I’ve ever seen in my life.”

ESPN’s Saturday night/Sunday morning college football analyst team joined the chorus, labeling Westerkamp’s catch/balancing act as “easily the play of the day” in college football.

"Good Hands" Westerkamp masters the art of grasping a football behind his back near out-of-bounds.

The Perfect Sequel to the Hail Mary Northwestern Pass

And yes, such accolades came his way less than one year after Westerkamp’s “once in a lifetime” Hail Mary catch. The 16-yard perfectly juggled reception, we also should point out, was just one of seven catches in a 125-yard day for the Illinois native.

Within minutes of the astonishing catch, Mike and I were shown how Westerkamp reached behind his back to use his behind to trap the ball and secure it at the same time

Last Saturday night, Jordan Westerkamp talked about his sequel to the Hail Mary catch against Northwestern.

Any Ideas for Names to Westerkamp's Latest Masterpiece?

Hail Varsity magazine publisher Aaron Babcock froze the photo he’d just shot and shared it via social media in the same amount of time it takes to visit the rest room.

In other words, Hail Varsity, the magazine, had something in the same elite category with Hail Mary, Westerkamp’s middle name for the past year.

Maybe someone will come up with a new name for next Saturday morning’s pregame drive time. Since the kickoff against McNeese State will be nearly four hours earlier than the season-opening kickoff against Florida Atlantic, Matt Davison has plenty of time to come up with a gem. In the meantime, I’m going to butt out of this one.

Thankfully, Richard of Lydick of Lincoln took the time to think it through and came up with what I think is the perfect description of Westerkamp's Miracle: Pelini's Houdini. "Enough said," Lydick wrote via email. Keene Hueftle of Pocatello, Idaho, was runner-up in the The N-Sider's best name for The Catch contest, coming up with something Pelini himself would say: "I got your back!"